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Alternate title: This Was Supposed To Be Landon’s Christmas Present for 2011.

This has actually been completed for a couple of weeks now – the actual sewing of the shirt came together rather quickly (it helps when you don’t have to futz with the fit during construction!), then it hung for a week or so while we debated buttons. Landon originally wanted pearl snaps – and I was originally excited because I love any sewing that involves using a hammer – but then he decided that they actually hated them… and every other button I offered. Picky guy! Then we were faced with the Darkness Dilemma (I do get up early to take my pictures in the AM, but Landon actually leaves for work far earlier than I do – not happening!). So the shirt waited to be photographed.

I ended up taking these pictures at the first available opportunity – which happened to be on Thanksgiving, at my grandparent’s house in Somerset, Kentucky. Such a pretty backdrop, although a bit bright. Oh, and I guess I should mention that while this shirt waited to be photographed, it did NOT wait to be worn – it’s been worn a lot, and washed twice! Plus, we drove 3 hours that morning. So please pardon the wrinkles :)

This version is essentially the same as the first Negroni, and other than the original laundry list of changes, I made no other alterations.

The fabric I used is a lovely flannel from my local fabric store. It’s super soft and super warm. It also super likes to shrink, apparently. I prewashed it twice, but I guess that wasn’t enough – the sleeves still got shorter after the third wash. BOO.

Cutting that buffalo plaid out was a BITCH. My usual workaround is to cut as much as I can on the bias, but I barely bought enough shirt fabric to make this, so it all ended up on the straight grain. I was feeling super nitpicky about the checks matching up (you should hear me when I’ve had a few drinks & I’m surveying the plaid shirts at the bar. Lots of plaid shirts, very little matching up. Drives me fucking crazy!), but it all came out perfect in the end. Well worth the effort!

I mean, look at those matched checks!

LOOK AT THEM.

I did cut the pockets on the bias. I guess I could have matched the flaps up better, oops.

The unfortunate thing about this materials is that it does tend to wrinkle pretty easily. But, hey, check out the winning buttons – we cut them off an old shirt that was destined for the trash can. Yeah!

I do love me a beautiful sleeve placket.

And, of course, the rolled-up sleeve test.

If you are wondering why there are a bunch of rocks scattered all over the grass here, that’s because I tried to clone out this giant shadow and accidentally added some rocks. I never claimed to be a master at photoshop, guys.

Overall, I think we have a winner! Landon has already worn this several times and it’s gotten lots of compliments (and a lot of people who think I’m fucking with them when I mention I made it. lolwut.). I keep catching him eyeballing my stash, like he’s trying to figure out his next shirt. Ha! I’m thinking the next one will actually have a collar stand and button placket – gotta step it up, keep things interesting! Also, no more handmade gifts from me. Clearly I can’t be bothered to finish them on time :B

Alternately titled: I Am The Worst Girlfriend Ever When It Involves Gift-Giving

I bought this pattern – Colette pattern’s Negroni – as part of Landon’s Christmas present. I also bought him a nice fat gift certificate to the fabric store, and we picked out two suitable fabrics – a stripey cotton shirting, and a soft checkered flannel. I dutifully made a muslin, and when we checked the fit, I realized a lot of changes were going to need to be made to get this Landon-appropriate (not that the pattern is a bad one, fit-wise – he’s just really particular about how his stuff fits. Kind of like me!).

Most of the issue here is that Landon wouldn’t freakin’ stand still long enough for me to put the shirt on him, pin it closed, and really asses the fitting changes needed. Or, rather, that’s what I’m blaming it on. Either way, I felt bad! So I finally bit the bullet and came to terms with the fact that he wasn’t going to let me stick a bunch of pins in him, and pulled one of his favorite button-ups out of the closet (which is quite conveniently located inside my sewing room, hee!) and used that to measure against the flat pattern. Made a quickie muslin, forced it on the dude once he got home, and lo & behold – the fit was perfect! And once that was out of the way, the actual making of the shirt came together quite quickly.

Here’s a rundown of all the fitting changes – hopefully this will help you understand why I dragged my feet for so long!
– Landon has a pretty big neck for his size, so the shoulders & neck are a size M, tapered down to smaller than a S (don’t remember the exact amount I took out, sorry!) below his chest. The sleeves were also tapered down to less than a S.
– Shortened the torso about 2″ (I think)
– Shortened the sleeves 2″
– Raised the armscye 1/2″
– Lengthened the sleeve cuff about ~1 3/4″ (it fit perfectly out-of-envelope, but Landon doesn’t like wearing his cuffs that tight – he likes them to slide over his watch)
– Widened the bottom of the sleeve to accommodate the new cuff length
– Added a single button to the middle of the placket
– Rearranged the placement of the buttons & added a few more to the front placket, omitted the collar loop
– Cut the yoke, collar & cuffs on the lengthwise grain for visual interest

Also, please ignore all the stray threads and the fact that I did not properly press the collar – I was rushing to sew on all those buttons and get some pictures before the sun set!

I think that’s it!

The actual sewing of this shirt, like I said, was surprisingly fast & simple. Even with the sleeve placket & all those flat-felled seams, it came together in a couple of days – and would have been finished even sooner, but we had an issue with the buttons (they were listed as 1/2″ but they looked reeeally small, so I measured them and they came out at under 3/8″! WTF!). At any rate, the instructions on this shirt pattern are gold. Seriously. Even if you don’t care for this relaxed style of button-up, the instructions alone are absolutely worth the cost of the pattern. I feel like I can tackle anything now! Anythingggg!!

Let’s have some pictures, yes?

This is Landon demonstrating his range of arm movement

I love the contrast of the horizontal stripes on the yoke.

What was that? You wanted to see more of that beautiful placket & topstitching? WELL, HERE YA GO-

unffff

“Landon, tilt your chin down a bit.”

Tried to climb a tree, realized all the branches are beyond dead.

HAAAA, ok, that’ll be enough of that!

Overall, I think he’s pretty happy with the finished shirt! I do want to make more of these… and try out some ~real~ button-ups with a proper collar stand & front button placket – does anyone have a TNT pattern they’d like to suggest?? I will definitely be making this again at least once, in the blue flannel shirting, but I am going to have him wear this one around for a couple of weeks so we can sort out any fitting issues that may not be apparent when he’s just standing under a tree :)